Thursday, March 27, 2014

Facebook Buys Oculus Virtual Reality Techonology Comnpany

Oculus Virtual Reality (OVR) head gear is among the latest developments in the virtual reality and gaming world that has caught the attention of so many people including big companies like Google, Apple and the likes.

The company behind OVR head gear known as Oculus VR, had been very consistent with their Oculus Rift project thereby also forcing the likes of Sony to get serious with theirs. However, a very surprinsing turn of events just hit us.

Facebook have bought over the Oculus VR Technology company for a total sum of $2 Billion.

Facebook which recently spent $19 billion on Whatsapp has once again opened its banks to the OVR company.

The buy-over saw Facebook paying $400 million in cash while the remaining $1.6billion will be in Facebook stocks including a potential $300 million in bonuses.

Oculus VR was a programme started to give hard core immersive experience of game environments. Therefore, it is quite puzzling as to why Facebook, a social media and advertising company wants to own the Oculus VR technology company and the project, Oculus rift that its developing.

According to Facebook;

‘Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready
for the platforms of tomorrow,’ said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark
Zuckerberg. He continued; ‘Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform
ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.’

‘The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like
you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who
try it say it’s different from anything they’ve ever experienced in
their lives’, wrote Zuckerberg on Facebook.

‘Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans
here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is
highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there’s a lot of
interest from developers in building for this platform.

Reactions have trailed this Facebook - Oculus deal and we have one of the reactions from Minecraft Creator Markus Persson:

"We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out,"

Many other game kickstarters are demanding refund to donations and deals that have been exchanged with Oculus VR company.

Of course, Facebook doesn't want the OVR company for gaming alone but for some other things as revealed below

‘This is just the start’, wrote Zuckerberg. ‘After games, we’re going to
make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a
court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and
teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face –
just by putting on goggles in your home.’

We are gonna keep you posted as things finally unfold with Facebook and OVR Technology company.